


Catching Frogs

by rubberglue



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-12
Updated: 2013-01-12
Packaged: 2017-11-25 04:54:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 565
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/635326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rubberglue/pseuds/rubberglue
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When they were kids, they used to catch frogs.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Catching Frogs

Leon tugged his cloak tighter around himself and glanced back into his house. The silence was broken only by his parents’ soft snores and the sound of crickets outside. He gulped and with a shaking hand, slowly opened the door, willing desperately with his heart that it wouldn’t creak. It did, a loud, long creak and Leon stilled, his eyes screwed shut. But nothing stirred and he let out a breath of relief. One last look at his house and he slipped out. A few steps from the house, he finally relaxed and broke into a run. He was late and Gwen hated it when she had to wait.

“If you keep tossing pebbles into the pond, we’ll never catch any frogs tonight.” 

“Leon!” She flung herself at him and he awkwardly patted her back. Gwen was always so touchy with him and while he enjoyed her affections, he was well aware of their different status. The fact that they were so close was already making life difficult for him at home. If his father saw him hugging Gwen, he was pretty certain he would get thrown out of the house. So he unentangled them and smiled at her. 

“Sorry I’m late.”

She huffed, then shook her head. “You’re always late. How will you ever be a knight if you can’t be punctual?”

“I’m brilliant with a sword,” he grinned. “Seen any frogs? Or have you scared them all away with your pebbles?”

“Not yet, but it’s a full moon tonight so I’m sure they’ll be out.”

Leon sat on the damp grass next to her and when she shivered, he pulled off his cloak and drapped it over her shoulders. Being a servant, her own cloak was threadbare, probably handed down from someone. His was a thick, warm cloak. She smiled up at him, warming him with just the sparkle in her eyes. The urge to bend down and brush his lips against hers her grew in him but he forced himself to look away. “I guess we’ll just have to wait,” he rasped.

She talked. Gwen was quite the talker. She told him about Elyan and how he was becoming more and more difficult. She told him that she was optimistic that her mother would get better soon - Gaius, the court physician had said so. She stared at the stars in the sky and told him silly stories about them. And as she talked, he watched her and wondered when she became so pretty. They had grown up together and they had always been close, but now, he kept thinking of more. 

They were foolish thoughts. He was a squire. She was a servant’s daughter. They shouldn’t even be here, lying next to each other on the grass, under the twinkling stars.

But today, wrapped in the darkness, listening to her soft, gentle voice and lying so close to her he could almost feel her, he felt emboldened.

Slowly, he inched his hand closer to where hers lay. When she didn’t move after he brushed his hand against hers, he gathered his courage and took her hand in his. She squeezed it. It felt like she was squeezing his heart.

“Maybe we don’t have to catch any frogs today,” she whispered. 

“No,” he agreed quietly.

With the stars smiling down at them, they lay, hands clasped, pretending that they weren’t who they were.


End file.
